The paper assesses geographic spillovers of firms’ total factor productivity (TFP) through the lens of spatial econometrics. The aim is to use patent data to link the concepts of productivity and innovation, as well as to shed light on the role played by industrial agglomeration economies. TFP...

Abstract - This article expounds the main findings of a research program on the reflation of local economies in West Africa. It was developed by the Municipal Development Program (MDP) in collaboration with the Sahel Club, and aims at implementing local information systems. This program does not...

Firms are more productive on average in larger cities. Two main explanations have been offered: firm selection (larger cities toughen competition, allowing only the most productive to survive) and agglomeration economies (larger cities promote interactions that increase productivity), possibly...

This paper conducts an in-depth evaluation on the role of industrial agglomeration in productivity growth of China's industrial sector by exploiting large dataset of manufacturing firms active in 176 three-digit industries and in 2860 counties. We also complement our analysis with the 2004...

There is a general presumption in urban economics that average commuting costs are increasing in city size. By analogy, it might be supposed that other spatial costs, such as distribution costs for utility services or access costs to schools and hospitals, will have the same characteristic....

We compare the magnitude of local productivity advantages associated with two different spatial concentration patterns in Italy � urban areas and industrial districts. The former have high population density and host a wide range of economic activities, while the latter are marked by a high...

This paper decomposes aggregate TFP growth in Britain for 1997-2008 to show the contribution of different LEPs and the role played by manufacturing and services and UK- and foreign-owned plants within these LEPs. These contributions are further decomposed to show the role of productivity growth...

Using water supply as a model for a wider range of infrastructure services, the effect of a negative exponential density gradient on distribution costs is investigated for four monocentric urban development scenarios: (a) Densification; (b) Dispersion; (c) Suburbanisation; and (d) Constant...

Firms are more productive on average in larger cities. Two explanations have been offered: agglomeration economies (larger cities promote interactions that increase productivity) and firm selection (larger cities toughen competition allowing only the most productive to survive). To distinguish...